BT Investment Management (BTIM) has revealed it will concentrate on product offerings for the SMSF market, as it looks to blend investment bank innovation with its asset management capability.
BTIM chief executive Emilio Gonzalez said the company was already focused on plans for the next three to five years, which involved capturing more of the growing SMSF market through both the advised and non-advised segments.
“As the markets move more towards investors taking control and ownership of their investments, we are focused on more niche products such as mid-cap, exposure to our specialised offshore products in Asia, international small caps and emerging markets,” Gonzalez said.
“These are all products that are difficult for them to replicate and [invest in] themselves.
“It’s a sign of where we’re going – coming up with products, but thinking about the client and what they need.”
One of the challenges for asset managers was that they were far too removed from the end client, he said, adding that BTIM was looking at new ways to remain innovative in the SMSF space.
“There has to be an element of asset management blended in with innovation that normally sits within an investment bank,” he said.
“We’re trying to bring in the investment bank thinking on product structuring, but also blending it in with our asset management business; they usually sit apart.
“For SMSFs and these types of products, you’ve got to tailor the solutions because to some respect it has been a little too easy in terms of a lot of money coming into managed funds in the past. Now, you have to work for it.”
He said he believed SMSF research was sorely lacking, so in order to get a more accurate gauge of SMSF investor demand, he was having regular discussions with advisers.
“Research in SMSFs is just statistics of market size – that doesn’t tell you what they want and where they’re investing,” he said.
“A lot of people don’t want to manage their own fund or make investment decisions, but over time I believe a lot of the SMSFs will be advised and will want advice, information and education.”
